


Schism

by Foxinstrazt



Series: Banished AU [2]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Banished au, Blood, F/F, Found Family, Lumity, timeskipping, toh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28593231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxinstrazt/pseuds/Foxinstrazt
Summary: When Amity learns that Luz was banished back to the Human Realm, it shakes much of what she believes and knows as true in the Boiling Isles. In search of answers and a way to reconnect with her lost friend, she learns a much easier way to do magic, and finds a terrible source of new power.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne, Amity Blight & Willow Park, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: Banished AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022193
Comments: 16
Kudos: 83





	Schism

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you just joining me with this story, I highly suggest you head back to check out Part 1, Banished. It covers what's going on! Those of you who have read Banished, I feel comfortable telling you that this will cover what Amity has been up to for the three year timeskip.

* * *

**Chapter 1 - _So Much Easier To Go_**

* * *

Amity wrung her hands together nervously, standing in front of the door the Owl House. The bird tube.. Thing had already heard her request to talk to Luz and had stretched up to the second floor, it's shrill voice making her cringe even down here.

She fought the urge to check her scroll again, planting her crutches and using them to keep weight off her still-healing foot as she stared at the weathered wood in front of her. In the aftermath of whatever Luz had done yesterday, it had been all over the crystal balls, and Willow had said that the Human girl hadn't shown up to the first three classes today.

So she was worried.

Perfectly natural.

Like any friend would be.

Her cheeks burned at her own thoughts as she huffed, and the tube retracted in front of her, turning her glare into a look of revulsion as the owl demon grinned at her. "Sorry, Luz isn't here right now!"

Amity blinked, slowly, feeling her ears twitch in annoyance as she spoke through gritted teeth. "Do you know where she is, then?"

"Nope! No one tells me anything.. Hoot!"

The way the bird-brained demon drew out the end of 'anything' made her eye twitch as she curled a hand into a fist and reached out. She was just going to knock on the door, but the demon recoiled, the door swinging inward. A witch was standing on the other side, looking as if she had been going to open the door, and was equally as surprised to see her. "Amity?"

"M-Miss Clawthorne?!" Amity glanced between the new streak of grey that was running through the woman's dark hair and an eye that had lost its bright green color for the same dull grey hue. "What are you doing here?"

The former head of the Emperor's Coven only sighed, gesturing to the the house at large. "Staying with my sister. I'm sure you saw the whole fiasco, yesterday?"

"Only what they caught on the crystal ball. That's um.." She didn't want to admit it. But Lilith seemed to know, looked directly at her foot still in its cast, and the crutches she needed just to stand this long. She could practically feel the bead of sweat that ran down beneath the collar of her shirt, announcing her as desperate. "That's why I'm here. Is Luz, um, here?"

Her former mentor looked over a shoulder, making a noise. "Uh, I've not seen the Human today, but she should be at school."

Mismatched eyes returned to her, and she let out a sigh of frustration. "She isn't. Willow said she's missed the first three classes, already."

"She left last night!"

Both witches turned to stare at Hooty, who was still cowering inside his little nook on the door, eyes darting between both of them with that stupid grin on his stupid face. Amity glared at him. "Why are you mentioning this now?!"

"You didn't ask if she was gone, you asked if she was here, sheesh! Hoot!"

Lilith put up a hand to cut their bickering off, stepping forward. "Left when, Hooty?"

"Not long after everyone went to bed, of course!"

Amity wouldn't normally put Luz wandering off on her own on the list of things to panic over, after all the girl was far too curious for her own good half the time and recklessly brave the other half, something that Amity loved about her, even if it was frustrating.

Something that annoyed her!

Annoyed her, right.

Right?

But when Lilith looked alarmed at what the bird demon had said, that set a chill down her spine as the witch turned around and began calling into the house. "Edalyn?" There was a pause, with no answer. "Edalyn! Titan above, are you even awake?!"

Amity blinked at the sudden increase in volume, having forgot the way the woman's sister seemed to pull her former mentor to the end of her rope very quickly. After a few seconds, a messy-haired and blurry-eyed witch appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing sleep away while yawning. "Jeez, Lily, trying to wake the dead? Oh, hey, it's the Blight girl. You looking for Luz?"

The older sister took a deep breath, hands clenching and unclenching a few times, and Amity got the impression their relationship had repaired somewhat after.. Whatever it was that happened yesterday. If nothing else, she could see that the Owl Lady's eyes bore the same mismatched appearance as Lilith's now. Questions for later, her thoughts chastised her. "She is. Do you know where Luz went? Your insufferable door demon said she left after everyone went to bed last night."

Sleep was washed away from the wild witch's expression and features just as soon as realization had passed over her, and Amity's heart rate spiked as the Owl Lady came down the stairs and marched towards the door with purpose, barely managing to move out of the way before getting bowled over. Eda looked over the forests nearby, the burst of energy the witch had gotten transferring to the intensity of her gaze as it landed on Amity. "She isn't at school?"

Meekly shaking her head, Amity took another faltering step back with her crutches, just to be safe.

The Owl Lady huffed, then beckoned her to follow as the witch turned to move back into the house. She kept up as best she could, Lilith helping her to ascend the stairs, to which she muttered a brief thank you that was met with a guilty look from the woman who had trained her for the last year or so.

That was an awkward conversation that they would have to get out the way, at some point. Amity was fine putting it off. Especially so with more important things.

Eda was already at a door down the hall, knocking on it lightly. As they approached the witch spoke as levelly as it seemed she could in the circumstance. "Kid, you in there?" Seconds passed with no response before gold and grey eyes met hers, and she tried too late to disguise her worried expression. The Owl Lady seemed to take that as an indication of what to do next. "We're coming in!"

Opening the door, the witch led the way into the room, and Amity followed behind, glancing about. It.. Wasn't much of a room. This was where Luz had been staying? It was a closet. With a sleeping bag.

A sleeping bag housing a curled up bundle of fur and a skull whose eyes winked open and lazily looked up at them. "..What?"

"Where'd Luz go, you numbskull?" The Owl Lady's patience had been worn thin, it seemed. Honestly, she was surprised the witch had lasted this long.

"Rude." King's voice was tinged with a yawn as he sleepily stood up, looking at them in confusion before pointing behind him. "Yeah, she's right ther-.. Uh.." There was only an empty pillow where he pointed. "Where's Luz?"

Amity moved around the two, looked down at the yellow bag on the ground. She'd seen Luz with it a handful of times, but what lay over it made her panic. Bending over, she balanced on her crutches carefully so she could pick up the discarded clothing. She turned around to present it before Eda and King could begin bickering, holding a purple and white hoodie up.

She'd never seen the Human without it. And if that wasn't worrisome enough, the look the two Clawthorne sisters shared was enough to set her blood running like ice in her veins. "Where would she have gone without this?"

Before they could answer, something clattered out of the pockets, falling to the ground. Eda grabbed it before she could even find where it hand landed, but the witch didn't hide it. It was a iron wrought key with a yellow eye on the base of it. "Lily, you don't think..?"

"He wouldn't!" There was a venomous look shot from the younger sibling in Lilith's direction, and Amity's confusion grew. "S-She said she destroyed the portal, why would he hurt her?"

"You tell me, you're the one who served at his feet for decades!"

"I was trying to heal you!"

"From a curse _you_ put on me!"

Amity tried to keep up as they shouted at each other, her gaze flitting between the two witches as frustration grew and grew. "Hey!" Both of the adults flinched, as if remembering she was there. "Isn't there something a little more important to be focusing on right now, like the fact Luz is missing?!"

She pointed at Lilith, who had the good sense to look ashamed at being called out. "Who wouldn't hurt her?"

That brought both of the siblings to look back at one another, before looking at her. The Owl Lady was the first to speak up. "Uh, I was kinda hoping the kid would catch you up on this stuff.."

"Well, she obviously isn't here, and we need to find her because apparently she might be in danger?" Amity wanted to scream, and she could feel the tips of her ears burning from the sheer anger she could feel welling up alongside her worry for Luz.

"The Emperor." That put a stop to her entire train of thought, her eyes shifting to Lilith, who was looking away. "He'd hurt Luz, if he wanted something from her or.. From us."

"W-What? But he.." She faltered, searching for the right words to say. "He speaks to the Titan, and enforces the Titan's will.. Why would the Titan want to hurt Luz?"

"It wouldn't! Belos is just a blowhard, who was totally fine with petrifying us both." Eda's eyes narrowed at her sister. "Does he even talk to the Titan, Lily?"

"I.. I don't know." Lilith's response shook Amity to her core. Surely the head of the coven that protected and served the Emperor would know, if anyone did. They had all repeated his story so many times, it had to be true. "But that doesn't matter, Edalyn. We have to find Luz."

Her mentor's gaze drifted to her, and she stared back with uncertainty. "How?"

"Edalyn's magic is gone and mine.. Mine is weakened. There's a spell that can show us where she went from here." Lilith's hands gestured to the sleeping bag, now clear of the small demon who was clutching to the Owl Lady's leg. "The tracking spell, an Oracle spell. Do you.. Do you know it?"

The woman's tone was enough to tell Amity that even her old mentor didn't think she would.

She was in the Abomination track. Now a witch who had been the most powerful member of the most powerful coven was asking her to mix magic.

And the Titan didn't want them to mix magic.

If that was even true.

That thought made her sick to her stomach, so Amity instead shook her head just shook her head instead of voicing her new doubts.

Lilith sighed. "I thought not. Not to worry, I can teach you."

"Lily, we don't have time-"

"Amity is an attentive student, Edalyn. It will not take long, and we will know exactly what happened to her." The words carried no bite, they were stated as fact as the witch stepped forward, crouching down to meet her eye level. Amity tried not to feel a bit of pride at the way the Owl Lady regarded her with a raised eyebrow, and at the praise. Such things were rare, and she usually enjoyed them, but right now..

Luz.

She refocused, staring at her mentor. "I.. I don't have my training wand. I still need it." There went the feeling of pride. A training wand at her age? Magic came so naturally to witches like Illusions with her brother and sister, even Plant magic was as easy as breathing for Willow.

"Let's try it without, and see what you can do, okay? Now, clear your mind. Think of seeing Luz, not as she is, but where she was when she was here, last night." Closing her eyes, Amity tried to imagine her friend here. Flopping onto the sleeping bag, reading a book and occasionally scrawling out another light glyph so she could continue in the dark. Immediately her thoughts turned to a juvenile wish she could have been in that scenario too, reading by spell-light.

She fought the blush that threatened to creep over her cheeks. Now was not the time for a _stupid_ crush.

"Focus on something that reminds you of her, something powerful that says 'Luz' in your mind." Lilith's gently grabbed her hand that was not currently clutching the hoodie, raising it up to trace the circle in the air. "Just like we used to practice. Have strong intent behind that feeling, and will it into power. Tell your magic to show you what happened here."

Amity took a deep breath, and the witch released her hand. She tried to focus on one thought, something that was so Luz that she could picture her clearly.

She had it, she hoped, and she drew the circle with her finger. Power sparked a deep purple as she finished it, then disintegrated into nothingness as she opened her eyes. A groan rose from within her, looking over at the witch who had instructed her. "I-I don't.. I'm not sure if.."

It made her bitter at herself, that she couldn't do this one thing when Luz needed it.

Lilith seemed to sense her spiraling, and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Try again. Remember; No one gets a spell on their first try. Now, focus on Luz again. You need to fuel your image of her into the spell, and your magic will do the rest."

An idea came from that suggestion, one that left Amity's eyes wide. "I.. Uh, I think I can do it."

"We're all hoping so, kid." If the Owl Lady wasn't trying to be dismissive, it definitely sounded that way. If anything, when Amity looked at the older witch, she saw that written clearly in Eda's expression was a hopefulness she was trying to hide.

"Go ahead, Amity." There was a bit to Lilith's tone that carried with it an implicit 'and ignore my sister, please'.

But the witches weren't the problem.

It was what she needed to do.

"Uh.. Can you both turn around?" Amity felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. "I can do it, but I can't do it if you're watching."

"Oh." Lilith didn't seem to guess what she was planning, but the witch shrugged and turned away. After a moment she reached out and pushed her sister to turn away as well, with the Owl Lady mumbling out a complaint before doing the same. Amity stared at King, who was looking suspiciously back at her, and she wore a glare for a moment before the demon followed suit.

It was a long moment of her making sure they weren't about to turn around as she cringed inwardly, looking down at the hoodie.

Titan, this felt weird.

_Sorry, Luz._

Amity pulled the hoodie up, burying her nose into where the hood met the purple stripe, and breathed in the scent of the girl who wore it. It was earthy, floral, with just a hint of what could have been smoke from a campfire if she hadn't known it was residue from fire spells the girl had likely nearly caught herself in. But it was exactly what she had smelled every time the Human girl had pulled her into a tight hug.

It filled her with a sense of safety, and warmth.

And she could picture every messy strand of brown hair in that moment, the way Luz's dark eyes sparkled whenever she talked about any topic that even slightly interested her. She could see, in her mind's eye, Luz standing in front of her as clear as day, grinning that silly, adorable smile.

With that clarity, she reached out again. Her finger drew the circle slowly, and this time Amity felt the pull of power inside her chest as her magic tore through her with an ease it never had before. A rush of exhilaration answered her call for the spell to work, and she completed the spell with a realization that this, this was how easy magic was supposed to be.

Why had it been so hard before?

The two older witches and their demon friend turned around, and Amity's eyes flew open, all of them hearing the same thing she was.

Luz's voice.

A language she had caught a few times, but didn't understand a single bit of.

"Deja una luz puesta para mí, te quiero."

* * *

It took a moment for Amity to realize that she was still holding the hoodie right under her chin, quickly dropping it to her side and hoping the others hadn't noticed. But she didn't look at them, focused instead on the shimmering form of Luz, speaking into a spectral version of the device that lay discarded on the ground by the girl's bag. Every detail was just as she had pictured in her thoughts, the Human girl recreated with her magic, translucent and glowing purple.

She was so lost in the fact she had successfully cast it she almost mistook the phantom afterimage of Luz for the real thing, reaching out with her free hand before retracting it as if she had been burned when she realized what she was doing.

The purple girl stood up, stepping to look out the window curiously, causing all three witches and the little demon to shift closer to peer out it. Whatever it was that Luz had seen had definitely caught her eye, but it was long gone for any of them as the Human tiptoed towards the door to the room.

They all followed in relative silence, though the Owl Lady and King bickered softly behind Amity as she exited the Owl House and ignored the babbling from the annoying door demon to follow her magical re-enactment of what Luz had done. The girl was dressed in what looked to be Luz's version of pajamas, stumbling out towards the woods near the house.

What had she seen?

Why would she walk out in what had to have been the middle of the night, barely stopping to slip on her shoes?

Amity's stomach flipped repeatedly with her nervous thoughts, a cold dread that whatever had happened to her friend was something terrible growing and growing.

Until a hand touched her shoulder gently, shaking her from her mental cycle as she kept an eye on the spectral Luz, turning her head a bit to acknowledge that Miss Clawthorne had some of her attention. "What?"

She wasn't trying to be rude, but there had to be better times to talk. Lilith didn't seem to share the concern, though, stepping over fallen leaves and snapped twigs while she spoke. "You know, this is a fairly difficult spell to do right. It's Oracle magic."

The thought hadn't really occurred to Amity that it would be advanced, and the thought barely lingered as she noticed Luz had paused, scribbling out a glyph on a notepad. "..So?"

"You said you still need your training wand." Her cheeks pinkened at that, her ears flapping against her head once in a flush of embarrassment. But the woman who had been her mentor squeezed her shoulder softly. "Nothing to be ashamed of, you are still young. Still, has any other magic come easily for you as that did? It only took you two tries to get this.. It took me months to conjure even a short replay of my own actions I had taken a day prior."

Oh.

Amity finally tore her gaze from Luz, looking up at the older Clawthorne sister. "I.. No. I have to work for weeks on every spell."

"Even Abomination spells?"

She balled up her fists, her eyes finding the forest floor. "I.. No. That's all proper mixtures and commanding them once they're put together. The summoning is easy."

Lilith seemed thoughtful as the purple Luz seemed to have finished the glyph and was moving again, pulling Amity with her as she thought. "Have you ever attempted Oracle magic before? I know you have plenty of simple spells under your belt."

"I.. No, mixing magics isn't allowed." Amity cringed at the automatic answer that left her lips, not sure exactly how she stood on that topic now. Luz had been part of every track, but that had been so.. Luz. And the Emperor.. She couldn't trust what he had said in his speeches now, could she? She couldn't trust what her parents had parroted from him all her life, either. He apparently wouldn't think twice about harming Luz. "My mother wanted me to join the Oracle track, but when I struggled with my first light spell, she quietly enrolled me in Abominations."

She remembered that day, confused why her mother had told her father that she chose Abominations when it had been chosen for her. She remembered the warm and proud smile her father had sent her way, telling her that it was a very respectable and skilled track. The mental focus to commanding abominations was one of discipline, and as his daughter, she would surely exhibit that sharp focus.

He had been so proud.

But she had sensed her mother had been so ashamed. In that moment, she had resolved to never make her mother feel that way about her ever again.

Which is why she often had to go out to the Knee to practice new spells with the help of her siblings. Her mother appreciated results, and did not care as to the process of obtaining them.

Both of them were drawn from their train of thought as Luz paused, her expression and body language changing from harmless curiosity to hesitation. Amity stared at the girl's features as she stepped around the image.

"You!"

Luz's voice was tinged with something.

Fear.

Luz was clearly afraid of what she was seeing, drawing a glyph before summoning a ball of fire into her hand. The Human's fearful expression became one of resolve to fight, then confused. "Why, then? You got what you wanted, Eda has no magic anymore."

Amity looked back at the Owl Lady, whose expression left a sense of dread in her own chest. She had seen the wild witch be fiery, confident, brash. Utterly flippant of rules or authority. She'd never seen the woman terrified.

She hadn't thought Eda was capable of being terrified! Even the glimpses she had caught on the crystal ball had been of utter defiance.

"You mean when I destroyed the portal, and messed up your evil plan?" Her eyes flicked back to Luz as the spell version of the girl spoke. Fiery and confident described the Human now, as well, wearing a smirk that left Amity staring a second longer than she should have.

Then it struck her that the Clawthorne sisters had mentioned the fact the portal was gone earlier, but she had been so focused she had missed it. Luz had destroyed the portal to the Human Realm? Had stranded herself in the Boiling Isles?

Amity hated how much that idea sounded good to her, and shoved the little voice speaking of happiness down until it couldn't say another word on the subject. "Didn't expect a 'lowly Human' to put up such a fight, huh?"

Then Luz's expression fell. "There's another way home?"

The girl's eyes widened in fear again, looking down at the ground and crying out in alarm. Amity was almost shoved aside as Eda rushed forward, pausing mid-step and staring at what unfolded as helpless as the rest of them to stop it. Luz had frozen her feet to the ground, staring up towards the sky in terror as she managed to get one more glyph off that caused vines to shoot up from the ground and wrap around her shoulders.

"No, no, no!" The cry pierced into Amity's chest, causing her to step back as the two witches and the demon moved closer. She wanted to end the spell, she didn't want to see what happened next.

But she didn't know how to end it.

And she couldn't look away or raise her hands to do so, anyway.

The notepad Luz had been drawing glyphs on was ripped apart and dissipated into shimmering sparkles of purple magic. "No! Eda! King! Lilith!"

"Luz!"

"Kid!"

Both Eda and King had yelled out and reached out futilely toward the shimmering version of their friend, with the demon actually running up and trying to tackle the girl's legs, tumbling through the formless magic and rolling with his momentum.

Luz was lifted up into the air, holding on only by a single vine that was slowly being uprooted from the ground. Amity noticed something, in her horror. The way the girl's eyes were locked on an area nearby, empty for the rest of them. She had never seen Luz look at someone that way, with such hatred. Again, she hadn't known it was even possible. "I'll find my way back! ¡Verás!"

And then the spell version of the girl was scattered into sparkling dust, leaving all four of them staring at empty space.

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, this took a bit longer to get out than I had originally planned! Leave it to the holidays and some pretty awful family interactions to beat the motivation out of ya! I really hope you all had a good and healthy and enjoyable time over the holidays, and for those of you who didn't, I love ya and I wish the best for you in this new year. <3 As always, thank you for your support on this story, I've loved reading every review and those of you who sent me PMs are amazing. 'Til next time! -Fox


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